For Love

Chapter 29

Jason's eyes swept back over his ornate surroundings again. "Doreen, explain it to me. I need to understand."

Doreen's eyes glanced about the room as if she expected someone to be listening. "Miss Laurie, she a good woman," she said, turning her attention back to him.

"Yes, we've both agreed on that."

"And you being her husband now... maybe you don't need to hear other folks say she's bad. Maybe you'll change your mind."

"Doreen, Doreen. I don't think she's bad. I think she's been through some terrible things."

"Sure enough," she said, dabbing her eyes. "Maybe it'll be better if'n you leave it alone. It Miss Laurie's story to tell anyhow."

"I know. And I thought I could wait for her to be ready to tell it. But I have so many questions. There are parts of her life that don't fit together, and now I'm afraid. I'm afraid there's something I'm missing, something dangerous in her past that I still don't know about. I was hoping you might save her the pain of it because she might never be ready. I've thought about it, and I don't want to undo any good that I've done in her life. I'm concerned that if I push her for answers, I might hurt her, or our relationship. Don't you see? I need to know what I'm dealing with. What our children will deal with. Is she really... did she break down? I don't believe she's unstable, but... well, why else would her brother take her from her child?"

"Take her from her child? Mr. Richard did no such thing."

Jason frowned. He thought about the girl he had only briefly met. He still didn't think she looked anything like his wife, but she definitely resembled someone he knew. Laurie's brother perhaps? Did the child look like her uncle? He couldn't recall Richard's features well enough to make that call. He shook his head. "I don't understand. Jenny said she was Laurie's daughter?"

"Oh goodness. That what Mr. Sherman wanted everyone to think. Miss Jenny be his child, only not by Miss Laurie."

Oh. Not her brother... not a family resemblance then.

"Mr. Sherman had no love for Miss Laurie."

"Yes. That much was obvious. Please, Doreen. Help me help my wife."

Doreen looked down to inspect the faded calluses on her hands. "I suppose Miss Laurie expect me to tell you anyhow. She says so in her letter. But you already know'd that."

"No, I didn't know that. Those letters were private."

She scrutinized him for a moment. "I thought you might be a good man, and if you can be honest with Miss Laurie, then you can probably keep her secrets too."

"Yes," he said, ignoring the twinge of guilt he still felt over telling his brothers about Laurie's time in the asylum. He hadn't wanted to, but after a frustrating conversation, he had caved, deciding there was no other way around it. "I want to help her, not hurt her."

"Well," she blurted, with a smack of her lips. "I suppose I'll be telling you what I know, but it ain't going to be easy to tell."

"And I'm sure it won't be easy to hear."

"No, sir, I don't suppose it will." She took a deep breath. "Well sir, Mr. Sherman was the worst kind of man. When Miss Laurie come to Star Hill, it ain't 'cause he wanted a wife. He married her so's his daddy might give him Star Hill, not his brother."

"Laurie didn't mention a brother-in-law."

"That's 'cause he's dead. The war got him."

Jason looked at his hands, thinking of how the war had taken a lot of people. It was the nature of the beast.